Practice Areas

The Firm’s Litigation Practice Group represents its clients in prosecuting, defending, mediating, and arbitrating lawsuits, petitions, and claims. The Litigation Practice Group specializes in the following areas of law:

• General liability and tort matters
• Business tort liability (compliance with Business and Professions Code, breach of contract claims and commercial disputes)
• Personal injury law (negligence, premises liability, product liability)
• Employment litigation, including ADA litigation, wrongful termination, discrimination, and “hostile work environment,” wage and hour claims, labor compliance
• Product liability law (including toxic torts, asbestos litigation, aviation and complex design and manufacturing claims)
• Construction law (including construction defect litigation, construction delay claims, stop notice litigation, contractor licensing, and insurance-related litigation)
• Civil rights and appeals (including injunctions and temporary restraining orders, petitions for writ of mandamus and administrative mandamus, appeals of administrative hearings)
• Public works litigation (including condemnation/ eminent domain, Public Contract Code litigation, construction defect, and regulatory compliance)
• Toxic site remediation (hazardous materials remediation, public nuisance litigation, enforcement and defense of environmental compliance orders, and litigation under CERCLA, RCRA, Polanco Act, Prop. 65, and environmental statutes)
• Professional liability (legal malpractice, medical malpractice and defense of design professionals)
• Land use and environmental litigation (including zoning challenges, entitlement review/revocation, Subdivision Map Act litigation, and challenges under CEQA)
• Competitive bidding and bid protest disputes
• Contract management and construction oversight (including prevailing wage and bidding compliance, due diligence, etc.)
• False Claims Act litigation
• First amendment law (including litigation concerning prior restraints, regulation of adult businesses, and restrictions on “commercial speech”)
• Land use and environmental litigation (including zoning challenges, entitlement review/revocation, Subdivision Map Act litigation, and challenges under CEQA)
• Prevailing wage litigation and compliance
• Real estate disputes/real property litigation (including breach of sale agreements, interference with use or possession, purchase-sale disputes, title disputes, real estate financing litigation, premises liability, trespass, and nuisance litigation)
• Redevelopment litigation (including defense of redevelopment projects, brownfield development, and eminent domain
• Subcontractor listing law

OM has extensive experience in public agency law, including those areas of law that impact public education institutions. For instance, our attorneys frequently counsel and advise our school district clients on such matters as Brown Act compliance, labor negotiations, real property acquisition, Williams Case compliance, suspensions and expulsions, employee discipline, merit system, teacher credentialing and special education.

The Firm has represented some of the largest school districts in Southern California for education, employment, general law, litigation, construction and contract related matters, including Los Angeles Community College, El Monte Union High School District, Lynwood Unified School District, Rio Hondo Community College, and Hacienda La Puente Unified School District. The Firm also serves as panel counsel to the Alliance of Schools for Cooperative Insurance Programs (ASCIP).

In addition, the Firm also has a team of experienced attorneys to readily assist our school district clients in construction defect, public bidding and contractual related disputes. The attorneys for the firm have successfully handled a number of public agency construction defect cases, and have a keen interest in education, some having taught business law at the community college level.

The Firm understands the ultimate goal of a construction program: to pay the construction costs agreed upon, and no more, in exchange for the timely construction of safe and acceptable projects, built in conformance with plans, specifications, and Title 24 requirements. The attorneys will consult regularly during all phases of construction to ensure proper performance by contractors, consultants, and owners.

The attorneys are skilled in the drafting and negotiation of contracts for all elements of construction projects, always keeping the best interests of our clients in mind. If necessary, our attorneys will monitor the project, including the program managers, construction managers, design professionals and all other necessary trades and specialties to ensure compliance with the contract documents.

The Firm will also endeavor to pre-qualify general contractors on behalf of our clients to ensure smooth project implementation with full legal compliance. If a claim is initiated, we make every effort to resolve the claim as quickly as possible without the need for full blown litigation. However, if a claim cannot be resolved informally or through mediation, the attorneys of the Firm have the experience necessary to litigate the matter.

In addition, the Firm is experienced in tort, and premises liability claims, and is able to handle all other types of claims which private companies and public agencies commonly face.

The Firm’s attorneys have a unique specialty in the field of municipal law, having served as contract city attorneys for numerous municipalities in Los Angeles County. In this capacity, the Firm provides services for the entire range of a city’s needs, including counseling for commissions and city councils, law enforcement and public safety advocacy, public works and public contracting, environmental compliance, risk management and defense of claims, and a wide variety of regulatory and constitutional issues which impact the efficient functioning of any California city.

On a daily basis, the attorneys draft ordinances, resolutions and contracts and respond to legal questions posed by the Firm’s public agency clients. All attorneys are experts in the Brown Act, Political Reform Act compliance, and other elements of general municipal legal counsel.

The Firm’s expertise encompasses all facets of redevelopment and housing law:  from general legal counseling and project guidance, transactional advocacy and negotiation, to bare-knuckles litigation.  The Firm’s attorneys have the skills and experience to provide a full range of redevelopment and housing services.

The Firm’s attorneys have successfully negotiated numerous disposition and development agreements (“DDAs”), owner participation agreements (“OPAs”), housing agreements, and development agreements.  In addition, the Firm’s redevelopment attorneys are well-versed in tax increment financing, bonds, and other elements of redevelopment finance, adding an extra level of understanding and expertise for the Firm’s clients.

This experience carries over into other aspects of housing and redevelopment advocacy, as well as to general real estate negotiation.  In this respect, the Firm’s attorneys have not only guided their public agency clients through the intricate process of adoption and amendment of redevelopment plans, but have also successfully negotiated literally hundreds of redevelopment and housing-related grants, loans, purchase-sale agreements, leases, easement agreements, licenses, CC&Rs, and other construction, housing, and development contracts.

On the litigation side, the Firm’s attorneys have successfully defended redevelopment agencies in challenges to the adoption and amendment of redevelopment plans, the awarding of OPAs and DDAs to rival developers, compliance with environmental requirements (such as compliance with CEQA), and compliance with the terms of contracts and redevelopment agreements.

The Firm has also litigated the complex aspects of environmental remediation common in many redevelopment and public housing projects, including:  abatement of hazardous materials at redevelopment sites, cost-recovery (under CERCLA, the Polanco Act, and other statutes), and public nuisance claims arising from contaminated properties planned for redevelopment.

The Firm has substantial experience in all facets of land use and environmental law, serving as general legal counsel to numerous planning commissions, historic preservation commissions, and planning departments, while also serving as litigation counsel in lawsuits challenging land use regulations and environmental issues. The Firm’s expertise includes: zoning and planning law, Subdivision Map Act compliance, review and adjudication of entitlements, revocation of land use permits, and related land use matters.

In addition, the Firm has experience in all aspects of environmental law, from CEQA compliance and environmental review of development projects; to toxic cleanup and hazardous materials litigation under CERCLA, RCRA, the Polanco Act, and other statutes; to general environmental compliance under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and other regulatory statutes.

The Firm’s unique combination of transactional expertise and litigation experience enable the Firm to provide not only general legal advice to agencies on planning and land use issues, but also litigation advocacy on nearly any aspect of land use or environmental law.

The Firm’s attorneys draft and negotiate various types of agreements on behalf of our corporate clients, including, but not limited to, licensing agreements, lease agreements, purchase and sale agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and acquisition of rights agreements. In addition, the Firm’s attorneys have extensive business litigation experience involving, among other things, contract interpretation and breach of contract disputes. In addition, our attorneys possess “real world” corporate experience having worked for a number of Fortune 500 companies including The Walt Disney Company, BP, International Paper, and Procter & Gamble.

The Firm provides advice and representation in personnel and employment law, including compliance with federal and state employment laws and representation in disciplinary and termination proceedings. Members of the Firm have participated in the resolution of numerous employee negotiation matters and have successfully resolved management-employee disputes.

The Firm represents its clients in disciplinary and termination proceedings and handles sensitive negotiations with recognized employee groups (unions). The Firm also provides advice, counseling and representation on proper employment practices, including harassment, hostile work environment, discrimination, wrongful termination and wage and hour law.

The Firm provides representation for its clients before legislative and administrative bodies on issues important to our clientele. We believe our representation before governmental entities is critical to meeting the needs of our clients. In particular, we advise clients about the potential impact of new or proposed legislative or regulatory developments on their operations. The Firm has a longstanding involvement with, and understanding of, pertinent legislation and regulations.

In this capacity, the Firm has crafted important legislation on behalf of numerous municipal clients, which have been designed to improve the quality of life for our clients’ communities and improve the circumstances for all Californians. The Firm’s attorneys also pride themselves on staying abreast of legislative developments before, during, and after enactment, allowing the Firm to provide solutions to clients often before new legal problems even arise.

As such, the Firm is uniquely qualified to provide successful government relations strategies to the Firm’s clients. Through the Firm’s extensive contacts in local communities, in Sacramento, and in Washington, D.C., the Firm is able to forge direct links between its clients and policymakers, putting clients in contact with the legislators, administrators, and staff responsible for shaping the legal landscape in California and the nation. The Firm’s attorneys have the experience to not only advise compliance with the law, but actually mold policy and change the legal landscape in which our clients operate.

The Firm has provided legal advice and counsel to water districts on water rate setting issues and prescriptive rights matters. We have drafted cooperative agreements between the water districts and other public agency entities to develop recycled and reclaimed water infrastructure and to promote the use of reclaimed and recycled water thereby reducing pressure on the purchase of more costly imported water. We have developed water management plans and drafted municipal ordinances placing restrictions on wasteful water uses.

The Firm has participated in the enforcement of statutory franchise rights to secure the municipal waivers and other restrictions that would have increased the cost of expanding vital recycled and reclaimed water infrastructure.

The Firm has handled litigation impacting the Upper San Gabriel District’s weighted representation on the Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster Board and also assisted the District in finalizing its redistricting efforts in the year 2000 while also defending the Upper District in a Voting Rights Act enforcement action initiated by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Members of the Firm were also involved with the formation of the San Gabriel River Discovery Center Authority, and played a central role in the drafting of stakeholder agreements and the Authority’s Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement executed between the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, the Central Basin Municipal Water District, the San Gabriel Rivers and Mountains Conservancy and the County of Los Angeles.

The Firm has served as General Legal Counsel to Central Basin Municipal Water District, and as assistant to the Upper San Gabriel District’s General Legal Counsel during meetings of the Board of Directors and its various subcommittees. The Firm’s members also have participated in deliberations by the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority and the Groundwater Replenishment Improvement Program (the “GRIP”) to improve water quality.

Members of the Firm have also has successfully negotiated cleanup standards and consent orders with both the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) at numerous major Superfund sites. We have participated in negotiations with the DTSC in the resolution of numerous alleged violations of the hazardous waste laws on behalf of a wide range of clients.

The Firm’s experience extends to California Environmental Quality Act compliance; Hazardous Waste enforcement and compliance matters related to industrial manufacturing facilities; Toxic Release Inventory alleged; and Proposition 65. Additional litigation experience includes environmental cost recovery prosecution and defense, and toxic tort defense. Our Firm has considerable experience counseling clients regarding compliance with environmental statutes and regulations, cost-recovery and remediation of contaminated properties, hazardous waste clean-up projects, regulatory agency requirements, insurance coverage for environmental claims, and environmental issues in real property and corporate transactions.